News In Shorts

• The International Day of Democracy, observed on September 15th each year.
• This was officially designated in 2007 via a resolution adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA).

Theme:  “Empowering the next generation.”

• focuses on young people’s essential role in advancing democracy and ensuring that their voices are included in the decisions that have a profound impact on their world.

History:

• The history can be traced back to the Universal Declaration on Democracy, which was formally adopted on September 15, 1997, by the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Significance:

• It serves as a valuable occasion to assess the global status of democracy.
• It advocates for and maintains democracy as an essential human right and a pivotal element of effective governance and global peace.

• The IPU is the global organisation of national parliaments, founded in 1889.
• It facilitates parliamentary diplomacy and empowers parliaments and parliamentarians to promote peace, democracy and sustainable development around the world. 
• The IPU is inching ever closer to universal membership, with 179 Member Parliaments out of the 193 countries in the world.

History:

• Considering the important role of Hindi in the freedom movement and after independence, the architects of the Constitution had accepted Hindi as the official language on 14 September 1949.

Constitutional Provision:

• Under Article 343 of the Constitution, “The official language of the Union shall be Hindi in Devanagari script. The form of numerals to be used for the official purposes of the Union shall be the international form of Indian numerals.”

Facts:

• Descendant of Sanskrit and has a rich tradition, dating back to the 12th century.
• Hindi is spoken by nearly 57% of Indians and 43% of people reported it as their mother tongue (Census 2011).
• Third most spoken language in the world after English and Mandarin. (around 600 million speakers).
• Spoken in other countries such as Fiji, Nepal and Mauritius.
• Notable Writers and Poets: Kabir, Tulsidas, Premchand etc.

• According to data released by the commerce and industry ministry, WPI experienced a 4.12% decline. 
• This decline follows a 3.48% fall in May, marking the third consecutive month of wholesale deflation. ( -0.98 per cent in April. )

Reasons: fall in prices of mineral oils, food products, basic metals, crude petroleum and natural gas and textiles.

Deflation vs Disinflation

• Deflation is a general decline in prices for goods and services, typically associated with a contraction in the supply of money and credit in the economy
• Disinflation is a decrease in the rate of inflation.

• NavIC, is the Indian Regional Navigation Satellite System, comprising seven satellites.
• The coverage area extends 1500 km. beyond India’s borders.
• NavIC signals boast remarkable precision, delivering user position accuracy better than 20 m and timing accuracy better than 50 nanoseconds, outperforming many of its global navigation satellite system counterparts. 
• It offers two services: 
  • Standard Position Service (SPS) for civilian users.
  • Restricted Service (RS) catering to strategic users.

Other Navigation Systems: 

• US’s Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia’s Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS), the European Union’s Galileo, China’s BeiDou, and Japan’s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS).

About MV:

• He was an eminent engineer and statesman and played a key role in shaping modern india.

Notable contribution:

• In 1912, he was appointed as Dewan of Mysore. He worked tirelessly on the industrial development of the state(most important Bhadravati Iron and steel work).
• As a civil engineer, oversee the construction of numerous water management systems across the country, including Krishnaraja sagar dam on Cauvery river.
• He pioneered technical education in India by establishing engineering colleges in addition to other fields like agriculture and  laid the foundation for India’s engineering prowess.
• He was a renowned precursor of economic planning in India.
• In recognition of his remarkable contributions to society, the Indian government bestowed upon him the prestigious ‘Bharat Ratna’ award in 1955.